Progress Report 11/15/07 Thursday - updated by Freay 23.11.07

Gone kayak'n.... I'm away for a few days kayak camping at Cumberland Island, Georgia. Karel will update Freya's blog in my absence. -- Greg Stamer.

Weather update from Karel Vissel:
http://www.kayakweather.blogspot.com/
Thu mrng w 2bft noon ne 3 to4bft aft ne 3bft seas 2.10mtr frm s to se
Fri mrng nw2bft noon s 2bft aft e 1bft seas 2.80mtr frm e to se

Satellite Text Messages Received from Freya:
45.36 170.41 Waikouaiti 85km 13hrs grey drizzly chilly day but good paddle

Update by Freya 23.11.07:

Weather looked inviting this morning, calm, but grey and drizzly. Paul helped me launching again, sliding downhill in a seal launch that extreme steep gravel into moderate dumpers is actually not that tough.

Paul enjoyed some more bookhunts during the day, heading south towards Moeraki.

We agreed he will look for me first at the Oamaru harbour, but I knew already I won't stop there if paddling was good...and it was good and easy, after a day's rest anyway.

I gave him the first call on the cellphone I won't come in for lunch, ok, next meeting point would be Moeraki beach, 50km overall down south.

The weather bacame not really attractive for a land mammal, with rain and dark sky, but for me as a mutated marine mammal I was quite happy out there, still following winds and moderate seas.

Paul obviously felt more like a land mammal and booked already another hut at Moeraki at 3pm, obviously convinced I would be stopping there.

I cut across the bays as usual, just feeling sorry I would miss another look on the famous Moeraki boulders on the beach in that way...happy with good progress that day!

On the second call to Paul it sounded already he didn't feel too happy with me wanting to push on to Shag Point rather than stopping at Moeraki, but he thought we could have easily been driven back to Moeraki from there...

On my third call at at 5.30pm I asked him for the last delay on the night's meeting, as paddling with 7-8 km/h felt just too good...Cornish Head 3hrs south sounded ok for him then.

Passing Shag Point through the reefs proved again the saying "If in doubt - stay out", as I didn't follow and caught a big wave washed sideways towards the next rocks...pooohhhh! But bracing successfully, just learnt something again...

I eventually paddled around the corner of Cornish head at 8.30pm, already seeing Paul's car with the orange Nordkapp on the roof on the beach.

I was thinking about giving him a fourth call just to tease him, to ask if he would agree if I would like to push on to Dunedin that night..."Then you would have camped on your own, girl!" was the understandable answer...as he lost already 40 dollars on that early booked hut we didn't use then...sorry about that! But who was always pushing on, too, when conditions were good 30 year ago??

85 km for that day was actually enough, as night came in soon, no Icelandic 24hrs of daylight!

Another delicious couscous meal prepared on the back of his car, and a quiet remote dune tent site to sleep.